The Literate Kitty

When two people get married, they usually feel like they know each other pretty well.   Their likes and dislikes. What makes them laugh, and the things that make them sad or upset. Their habits and eccentricities.   But how well do we ever  really  know another person? There’s always  something  we’re holding back... something embarrassing, that we’re ashamed of, or that we simply know our partner wouldn’t be cool with.   That’s normal.   The thing is, there are little,  unimportant  secrets... and then, there are deep, dark, hidden things that have the power to change  everything  we think we knew.   Kimberly Belle delivers a tempting souffle of the latter variety, in  The Paris Widow .     From the moment Stella and Adam had their meet-cute, it seemed they were meant to be together.   A quiet, calm guy—who nerded out over the cool old architectural interior treatments he found and sold to his wealthy ...

Bonjour!   (Passport stamp from Charles de Gaulle) I’ve been back home from my first ever trip to Paris for a few days, but already, a little part of me wonders if it was all just a dream.    Was I  really  there? Did I see those places, do those things, eat those foods?   [ To be fair, the brutal head cold that sunk its viral little claws into me whilst across the Big Pond is probably to blame for any brain fog.. .]   Anyway, my photos (and American Express card) prove that I really, truly  was  there, and  I have thoughts...     I'll always equate Paris with the color beige.    [ Yeah, I know, that sounds bad. 😅 Stay with me, here!]   It’s a city full of tall, old, beige buildings... a great many of which are decorated with beautiful wrought-iron balconies, and brightened with greenery and flowers.   So in this case, “beige” isn’t bad (bland, boring); rather, it’s a pale, neutral background that the color...

The only thing worse, to a typical college freshman, than having  their  parents come for a visit, is having  everyone’s  parents on campus to visit.    In other words? The dreaded Parents Weekend... full of assorted activities for students and parents alike, beginning with the opening night dinner, when groups of parents and their kids mingle.   But for five families—who’ve traveled from all over the U.S. to see how their offspring are coping with freshman life—that dinner takes an unexpected turn... when not one of their kids shows up.   Is it just a matter of irresponsible teens, acting out? Perhaps some sort of fraternity/sorority hazing ritual they’re fulfilling? Or...  something else??   That’s the million-dollar question on everyone’s mind in Alex Finlay’s latest thriller,  Parents Weekend .     At small, private Santa Clara University, located on the coast of Northern California, freshmen are divided into small “po...

Imagine, if you will, a post-pandemic office sitch. Employees given the all-clear, report-back-to-base instructions... meaning, anyone still wishing to be gainfully-employed should showing up at the big office building, posthaste, to do... well, Very Important Things.   Which Dolores de la Cruz—striking, enigmatic, and fearsome—does, in her oh-so-elite, can’t-touch-this way.   And that's all fine... until she happens into the same elevator at work as Jake Ripper... almost ridiculously-handsome, in his winsome, Clark Kent sorta way—and suddenly, both their worlds are turned upside-down (and quite possibly, inside-out).   Because whereas Dolores is the scarily-beautiful (and untouchable, lest we forget), powerful unknown... Jake is the younger, eager-to-please, temp-agency hire—just there for a brief time, filling in for someone-or-other—with no real skin in any particular game.   Except.   Dolores senses in Jake an “otherness”, with his stranger-danger leather gl...

There’s just something about superheroes. Having inhuman powers. Fighting bad guys. Kicking lots of ass.   Sounds pretty awesome, right? (Except for... when it  isn’t. )   To Jessica Jones, a perpetual outsider, being a “superhero”—a tarnished, been-to-hell-and-back one, at that—is anything  but  awesome.    And ever since a whole lot of crap went down in her life—culminating in her retirement from the whole superhero biz, and making everything that much  less  awesome—she’s been doing her level best to just... exist.   Not in any “super” kind of way.   But in an  if-only-I-can-get-through-another-day  way.   Until the day Amber Randall walks through the grimy door of Jessica’s dingy apartment-cum-private-eye-office-space... begging for help, as only a desperate parent can.   Jessica, wallowing in the pit of despair, fear, and self-loathing deep within her soul, is drawn to the other woman’s pain and fear, for it...

Everyone’s familiar with the saying, “blood is thicker than water”... but is it,   really? Norwegian suspense author Jo Nesbø puts that idea to the test in his latest tale,  Blood Ties  (giving big-time Cain-&-Abel energy).     One thing you can count on, living in a really small town? That  everyone  else knows your business.  Your family. Your history. Everything you ever did. Basically, all the dirt.   If your family’s respected (and respectable), you’ve got a lot to live up to... but your fellow townsfolk probably give you the benefit of the doubt if one of you does something to raise eyebrows.   But if your family’s always been a little bit “off”, well... the town doesn’t cut you as much slack.   Brothers Carl and Roy Opgard grew up in tiny Os, moved away for a spell, then made their ways back... and made good, in middle-age.    Carl manages the town’s biggest draw—the chic Os Spa and Hotel—and has grand plans for...

There are friends... and then there are your Ride-or-Dies, The People Who Have Your Back (No Matter What). One thing I’ve learned, over the years, is that it doesn’t matter how many “friends” or “followers” you have, or how many “likes” you get, on whatever social platform.    What does matter is what happens when you’re at your lowest. Your ugliest. Your neediest (or, your I-absolutely-don’t-need-anyone-iest, which of course, is when you absolutely-really- do ).   Because the people who show up for you then, in all your  whateverness?  They’re the ones worth holding onto, listening to, and sharing your best—and your worst—with, forever.   Deanna Raybourn’s newest spy thriller,  Kills Well With Others , gives us a masterclass in the why... and does so, in surprisingly poignant--and frequently hilarious--fashion.     They’re a foursome, alright... but definitely not your killer  Sex-and-the-City  kind of quad (not even the  and...